1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a composition containing honey and particularly to a spread for bread and a refreshing beverage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Honey is the sweet material which is produced by bees who pick-up sweet juices, enrich them by materials from their own bodies, change them in their bodies, store them in honeycombs and allow them to ripen in the honeycombs.
Honey is predominantly used for direct human consumption and additionally, for the production of pastry, such as, gingerbread, and of sweets and alcoholic beverages. The importance of honey as a food stuff, savory snack and a medicine is primarily based on its content of easily absorbable carbohydrates, aromatic substances which stimulate the appetite, and mineral components. Of the latter, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, phosphorous, silicon, copper and nickel are present in almost all types of honey.
In medicine, honey serves as a strengthening substance for convalescents because of its high nutritional value. In slowly healing wounds, honey acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. Also, it is used in bronchial catarrh. Of special importance from a medical viewpoint is the presence in honey of acetylcholine, a material which, as a cholinergic factor, acts to lower the blood pressure, and has a stimulating effect on stomach and bowel activities. Its immediate effect on the heart is presumably based on the restoration of the heart muscle metabolism or a rebuilding of the energy reserves of the heart muscle. Furthermore, honey is used in the diet for liver conditions and particularly in chronic liver diseases.
Accordingly, honey is a valuable foodstuff, savory snack and remedy, and the increasing production numbers of honey in the last years show that the consumption of honey has constantly increased.
The composition of the honey varies, depending on the origin of the type of honey. However, generally, honey has a very high content of "sweet tasting sugars" particularly glucose and fructose. As a result, honey is frequently unacceptable to many people because it tastes too sweet to them. In many cases, honey is used as a spread for bread, i.e., together with other carbohydrates. This represents a further limitation on the consumption of honey since many people today, for health reasons, are on a decreased carbohydrate diet. On the other hand, the consumption of honey is important because of its above-described favorable properties.